


Trust Issues

by hedda62



Category: White Collar
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-16
Updated: 2012-08-16
Packaged: 2017-11-12 06:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/487959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hedda62/pseuds/hedda62
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"We catch each other."</p><p>Just a tidbit, written after 4.05, "Honor Among Thieves," but no spoilers and could fit anywhere.  Gen, but UST if you want to find it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trust Issues

"Peter, why are we on a roof?"

Peter let Neal wait for the answer, gazing around at the view. It was a fine summer evening in New York, warm but not hot, the sun sinking slowly, glowing a little desperately as though it knew winter was coming. He could sympathize.

"I'm planning to fall," he said.

Without looking, he could feel Neal check an exclamation. _That's right,_ he thought. _Wait for it._ "Look," he said, pointing west. "You can see Hoboken from here."

"Peter."

Five seconds, then: "I'm going to fall, and you're going to catch me."

"Not off the edge?"

The inflection was steady, the pitch unaffected, just that tiny hint of panic. Peter knew Neal's voice far too well. "Not unless you've been messing with a radioactive spider without me noticing. Or grown wings."

"There's Batman too. He does it with equipment."

"Don't need you to catch me with your equipment." A thought, and Peter had to stifle a laugh. But Neal knew him equally well.

"What?"

"I was just imagining Mozzie as Alfred." Peter paused. "No, that's a little too good. Change of subject. I'm going to fall, _not_ off the edge, just here, and you're going to catch me. I know, I know," he went on against Neal's incipient splutter, "it's tediously Corporate Retreat."

"I didn't think the FBI had--"

"Elizabeth, where she used to work. She used to come home with jokes about Truth or Dare and Spin the Bottle. At least I think they were jokes."

"Did you play Spin the Bottle at Quantico?"

"Deadly seriously. Now--"

"I'm still asking why we're on a roof."

"Dramatic tension." Neal gave him a look. "Sense of place?"

"Privacy."

Peter shrugged. "Not into looking ridiculous in front of lots of people, true enough. All right, so--"

"I agree we have trust issues, but wouldn't it make more sense for me to fall into your arms?"

"No. It wouldn't. Now..." He lined himself up with Neal at the right distance. "Ready?"

"Sure thing, Peter."

Peter stiffened his body and let himself fall. And fall. At the last instant, before he hit the hard asphalt, instinct twisted him to land on his right shoulder instead of slamming down on head and shoulder blades. The impact knocked the breath out of him, and he lay still for a moment after recovering it, assessing damage. He was going to have a hell of a bruise, no more.

"Dammit, Neal," he said finally, and rolled onto his back. Neal was regarding him, impassive. "I suppose that was you making a point. Why do they always have to hurt so much?"

No answer. Peter pushed himself to his feet, slowly, not looking at Neal, knowing to the quarter inch just where he stood, and then as soon as he was vertical let himself fall again.

This time, hands clasped his arms. Neal staggered a bit, but held Peter's weight steady. Peter leaned back into Neal's body, eyes closed in relief, and then Neal righted him. And didn't let go.

"You see," said Peter quietly, "when no one's making a point..."

"We catch each other." Neal's breath was warm on the back of his neck. "Without thinking."

"Yeah, though 'not thinking' shouldn't be our default state, okay?" Belatedly, his head whirled with vertigo, as if he'd plunged into the abyss after all. The skyline of New York wavered, then sparked into sharpness as Neal's hands settled more firmly on his shoulders. He didn't turn around. "You planning to let me go any time soon?" he said, with reluctance and a sense of inevitability.

"No," said Neal, and they stood together looking at the city while the sun went down behind them.


End file.
